BEHIND THE SONG.....LEON PAYNE
If I mention the name Leon Payne, I wonder how many people could tell me who he was?
He is probably best remembered as the guy who wrote the lovely ballad "I love you because.." recorded by Gentleman Jim Reeves and subsequently turned into a huge international hit. He also wrote some sensational tunes that Hank Williams made famous, including "Lost Highway" and "They'll never take her love from me."
But that's not what I want to talk about. Oh No. You see Leon has the distinction of having written what must rank as Country and Western's BLACKEST song ever. It goes by the title of "Psycho"... and here's the bizarre background that inspired Leon to write a song unlike any other he ever penned.
Charles Whitman was a former Eagle Scout, ex-Marine and model student at the University of Texas in Austin who one night in 1966 killed his mother by strangulation and stabbed his wife to death. The next morning, he packed up his Marine footlocker with guns and ammo and food and survival tools and equipment and marched off to school. At UT, he hauled his gear up to the top of the 28-story UT library tower -- then the tallest spot in Austin -- locked the observation deck doors and went to work.
Alas he was a superb sniper and started picking off people as they walked or bicycled to class. No one initially knew what was happening as death rained down from the sky. Before cops finally broke through to the roof and shot him down, he had killed 16 people, wounded 30 more and forever traumatized a university campus and a city.
Leon Payne, like many others, was clearly affected by these shocking events in Austin, so he sat himself down and out came this song. Let's go through it verse by verse...
"Can Mary fry some fish, mama
I'm as hungry as can be
Oh lord, how I wish, mama
You could stop the baby cryin'
'Cause my head is killing me
Mmmm...so far so good, just a little upset at the mewling infant, right? 'Fraid not.
I saw my ex again last night mama
She was at the dance at Miller's store
She was with that Jackie White mama
I killed them both
And they're buried under Jacob's sycamore
WHAT? Did I hear the right?
You think I'm psycho don't you mama?
I didn't mean to break your cup
You think I'm psycho don't you mama?
You better let 'em lock me up
OK - I think I'm getting the picture..go on...
Oh, don't hand me Johnny's pup mama
As I might squeeze him too tight
I'm havin' crazy dreams again mama
So let me tell you 'bout last night
I woke up in Johnny's room mama
Standing right there by his bed
With my hands around his throat mama
Wishing both of us were dead
You think I'm psycho don't you mama?
I just killed Johnny's pup
You think I'm psycho don't you mama?
You'd better let 'em lock me up
Something tells me that Johnny's pup is not the only one in bother....
Oh you recall that little girl mama?
I believe her name was Betty Clark
Oh don't tell me that she's dead mama
'Cause I just saw her in the park
We were sitting on a bench mama
Thinking of a game to play
Seems I was holding a wrench mama
Then my mind just walked away
Chilling....and then comes the pay-off line.....
You think I'm psycho don't you mama?
I didn't mean to break your cup
You think I'm psycho don't you mama?
Mama why don't YOU get up?
I've heard several versions of this but the BEST version in terms of capturing the inherent derangement of the lyric was recorded by Elvis Costello and the Attractions back in at The Palomino Club, North Hollywood, California on February 16, 1979; If you click here and scroll down to Disc 2 Track Five, you can hear a clip of it. What is best about this live version is that the backing music is almost sweet as the murderous lyric unfolds. It's powerful stuff that lifts the hairs on the back of the neck. This is NOT what country music is perceived to be!
Leon Payne died on September 11th 1969. His musical legacy endures, and I believe he carries the crown for having written the blackest song in the history of Country music.
David Vance
in DV MUSIC HALL OF FAME
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Reader Comments (14)
The Country/folk songs have a greater impact in some way due to the nature of the music. The folksy narration like Cash's "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" comes to mind. When I was a kid I must have sang "Tomm Dooley" hundreds of times feelin bad for Tom Dooley without realizing the full significance that he murdered his girl with a knife.
Thanks for that. I think you are right about the fascinating contrast between the folksy nature of C&W and the sombre lyrics. I have many other ideas for this column......some macabre, some just odd!
Even someone like Kenny Rogers is capable of writing sinister stuff:
She's leavin' now 'cause I heard the slammin' of the door
The way I know I've heard it slam one hundred times before
And if I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground
Reminds me of the first time I heard Lake Marie, by John Prine (also country-ish). Starts off sugary and gets very dark.
http://www.risa.co.uk/sla/song.php?songid=20089
Hugh Cornwell did an excellent version of Psycho. Have you heard it?
Hi, this is Myrtie Le Payne, Leon Payne’s daughter. Daddy did not write Psycho after Whitman’s rampage. He did write “Selfishness In Man” after the shootings.
Daddy wrote Psycho after we had gone to the movies and I explained the head rolling down the staircase in a scene of an Alfred Hitchcock movie
Very fascinating article, and very revealing to read Myrtie's comment too, who I have no reason to doubt is Leon Payne's daughter.
I 've just heard the Costello version in a collection I had laying around but had never got round to listen. It's a beautiful rendition, Costello conveys all the hurt and bewilderement of the song. After a little bit of googling I came across your post. But it's a great song too, obviously Mr. Payne was a very talented man.
Someone compared the violence in the sing song to hip hop but I beg to differ. I find this tune far more complex, not akin to the self aggrandizing hostilistility that comes up in hip hop. This song is even more fascinating because the protagonist is so self bewildered, tortured and even somewhat remorseful in his psychotic state of mind. It's very compelling how he makes an appeal to his mother (in a constant motif of the song that at no point feels forced or overdone) for understanding, while at the same time confessing his murderous deeds (even having as much self awareness as to ask that he be locked up) as his mother lies dead without this ever crossing his mind.
The song is definately about sinister deeds but to me it's so well done, that it is much more about the suffering of mental disorder, the internal turmoil, than about murder. There are several great lines in the song, out of which the ones that stand out are where he remorsefully tells his mother "I didn't mean to break your cup", such an inconsequencial thing that this person's state of mind is somewhere between real and unreal (the dreams he recounts), earth and hell. And in a very childlike way, while he can recognize good for bad (as is obvious from what he says despite feeling compelled to act in an evil way) he's sanity is so ruined that he can regret murder as much as breaking a cup.
Another even more poetic line for me, and a very symbolic one too, is at the opening bit where he says:
"Oh lord, how I wish, mama
You could stop the baby cryin'
'Cause my head is killing me"
Great song.
Brilliant David, just brilliant.
Thank you.
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